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The findings suggest that woolly mammoths lived similarly to modern elephants, with herds of females and young elephants led by an experienced adult female (artist's impression)

While analysing the woolly mammoths for a wider genetic study, the researchers discovered the 70 per cent were males.

The findings suggest that woolly mammoths lived similarly to modern elephants, with herds of females and young elephants led by an experienced adult female, according to the researchers.

In contrast, the researchers suspect that male mammoths, like elephants, more often lived in bachelor groups or alone and engaged in more risk-taking behaviour.

The researchers suspect that male mammoths, like elephants, more often lived in bachelor groups or alone and engaged in more risk-taking behaviour (artist's impression)

WOOLLY MAMMOTHS

The woolly mammoth roamed the icy tundra of Europe and North America for 140,000 years, disappearing at the end of the Pleistocene period, 10,000 years ago.

They are one of the best understood prehistoric animals known to science because their remains are often not fossilised but frozen and preserved.

Males were around 12 feet (3.5m) tall, while the females were slightly smaller.

Their curved tusks were up to 16 feet (5m) long and their underbellies boasted a coat of shaggy hair up to 3 feet (1m) long.

They get their name from the Russian 'mammut', or earth mole, as it was believed the animals lived underground and died on contact with light – explaining why they were always found dead and half-buried.

Professor Dalen said: 'Without the benefit of living in a herd led by an experienced female, male mammoths may have had a higher risk of dying in natural traps such as bogs, crevices, and lakes.'

The findings highlight that fossil records don't necessarily represent a random sample of a population, the researchers say.

The team now hopes to study several other extinct Ice Age mammals, to see if there is also a skewed sex ratio.